INSIDER asked Sephora Collection's national makeup artist Helen Phillips to tell us the biggest mistakes people make when they do their own makeup.

The biggest mistakes include not blending foundation properly on the jawline and nose, rushing your lipstick, and wearing too much brow makeup.

If you've ever seen a professional makeup artist at work, you'll quickly discover that they already know everything you're doing wrong with your makeup — and they'll tell you exactly how to correct your mistakes.

"There are simple little things you can do all the time but you don't know you're doing them," Sephora Collection's national makeup artist Helen Phillips told INSIDER.

We asked Phillips to tell us the most common beauty mistakes we make without even realizing, and how to fix them.

You're putting it on in the wrong order.

If you want to get technical, Phillips suggests a particular order for applying foundation.

"Start at the center of the face but not actually the nose," she said. Then, "I do my entire cheek area and then another entire cheek area, and then the entire forehead."

The makeup artist does her nose last, since too much product will show easily in that area. Leaving her nose until the end also means there's less foundation covering her freckles, which she likes to keep visible for a natural look.

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You're not blending foundation in properly.

If you don't blend your foundation properly, it will show. There are two areas in particular that people seem to miss, according to Phillips.

"Regardless of the foundation you're wearing, you should just really, really blend the jawline and the nose," especially "the top of the nose," she said. "That will really help to make your foundation as undetectable as possible."

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You're rushing your lipstick.

Using a lip brush gives you greater control and precision.
Brianna Arps/INSIDER

Phillips has found that "people tend to throw [lipstick] on really quickly," which doesn't result in the best look.

"I feel like it's one of the products you can actually spend a little bit more time on to get the shape that you want," she said.

To get the perfect shape, she recommends lining your lips with your lipstick (unless it's a liquid lipstick, which doesn't work as well)."Then, when you touch-up [your lipstick], you can do it quickly because the edges are perfect already."

This method makes lipstick "last the longest."

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You're making a pouty face when you apply lipstick.

Making "a kiss face" when you put on liquid lipstick won't leave it smooth.
Chloe Pantazi/INSIDER

You're aiming your liquid eyeliner too high.

"Eyeliner is so tricky," Phillips said. "I feel like people go a little too high [with liquid eyeliner] and they don't allow their own natural lash line to guide them; that's how it becomes too thick too fast."

Her solution to this problem is to "push the actual product down onto [the] lash line and just let [your] lash line guide" you.

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You're not mapping out your eyeliner.

An alternative to working the product down along the lash line is to "map it out" with eyeshadow, and then "trace right over it" with eyeliner. "That just really helps to get it even," Phillips said. This is an especially handy technique when trying to master a cat-eye.

The makeup artist recommends using a medium-toned eyeshadow first to define the shape you want your eyeliner to take. If you're feeling lazy, she even suggests just applying a "little kick of liner on the outer edge" of the eyelid, instead of painting eyeliner along the whole top lash line, to replicate the cat-eye look.

You're applying highlighter in the wrong places.

"I love glowy skin so very much, but I do think there are some standard, good-for-everyone places to apply it," Phillips said.

The best place for highlighter is "the high points of the cheeks... because that's where the light naturally hits," she said. "That's what you want to think about you're applying highlighter."

The light is "probably not going to hit on your jawline," so avoid that area. You'll also want to "avoid the center of the cheek next to the nose, the T-zone,"and "the center of the forehead," she said.

A good rule of thumb is to think about your individual features. "I kind of have a long pointy nose so I don't apply it all the way down my nose, but I might apply it just in the center," she said. "People that have cute button noses could do it all the way down the tip of the nose."

More universally flattering areas include above and below the eyebrows, according to Phillips, who recommends "being strategic with [highlighter] as opposed to applying it everywhere."

You're using the wrong color for your brow.

When choosing a brow color, "always go with the natural tone of your brow," Phillips said. "I don't tend to go too dark or too light," because, your brows are "in the center of your face; people will notice."

While the color you use "depends on what your face can carry," what many people don't realize is that one uniform color isn't always best. "A lot of people have the fade-out of the [eyebrow] tail," she said. For the tail, she suggests using a deeper shade, or even two shades deeper for definition.

Phillips finishes brows by combing through them after she has applied colors. This prevents products from clumping in patches of hair, and leaves "a natural color all the way across."

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You're using too much brow makeup.

Eyebrow shape is really important. "Regardless of how dark you want your brow, or how enhanced you want it, the biggest thing is just to always remember a natural shape," that way, "you're not looking surprised all the time."

The makeup artist recommends "using your own face to guide you where to place" your eyebrow product. Generally, the start of your brows should align with where your nostrils end.

You can also lightly map out the shape you want with brow pencil first, before filling it in to ensure you don't get trigger happy with your brow products.

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You're wearing the wrong blush color.

Phillips said one of the questions people always ask her is which blush color is best for their skin tone.

"A really good way to judge what you should be using is by actually going with your natural inner lip color," she said. To determine your best neutral shade, simply look at the color at the center of your lips — whether it's pink, peachy, purple, or taupe — and let that be your guide.

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Either you're not using setting spray — or, if you do, you only use it as a finish.